Ecuador's foreign minister, currently on a visit to Vietnam, said on Monday that his nation has received a request for political asylum from Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, but no decision had been taken.

"I can confirm that we received the request for asylum from Mr Snowden," Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters in Hanoi. "We will make a decision on this, we are analyzing this with a lot of responsibility."

Snowden fled Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday and was believed to be in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.